Ex Astris Veritas
by MaryRoyale
Summary: 50 years after the Battle of Hogwarts and Madam Granger, Head of the DMLE is trying to effect major changes in wizarding Britain... and in Hogwarts. The new initiative will allow non-human magical beings to attend Hogwarts for the first time. Andraste of the Salisbury Plain kentauroi is sent as her people's representative.


**The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition- FINALS Round 1**

**Team:** Falmouth Falcons

**Author: **MaryRoyale

**Position:** Beater #2

**Assigned Magical Being:** Centaur

**Prompts Used:** "must you?", lost and found, feast

**Title:** Ex Astris Veritas (The Truth of the Stars, or Out of the Stars, Truth)  
**Official Disclaimer**: The original characters of this story are the property of the J.K. Rowling. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. It is my contention that this work of fan fiction is fair use under copyright law. No monies were received for receipt of this work.

**Pairing:** None

**Rating:** T  
**Word Count:** approx. 2800

**A/N:** They said to be creative, and with the Centaurs you pretty much have to be since JKR only named 3 or 4 in the entire series. Oddly enough, most of the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest seemed to be male. In actual horse herds the herd is run by a lead mare. Occasionally there will be a bachelor herd run by a stallion. I decided to pretend that the Forbidden Forest herd was a bachelor herd, which would explain why Magorian was the apparent leader.

This story takes place 50 years after the Battle of Hogwarts and 31 years after the epilogue. I used the canon pairings in the epilogue, but the next gen kids were fair game. It ends up fairly vague in the story because it isn't necessary to the plot, but I know there will be people who can't live unless I post it so here it is:

Hermione Granger m. Ronald Weasley- Rose Weasley

Draco Malfoy m. Astoria Greengrass- Scorpius Malfoy

Harry Potter m. Ginny Weasley- Albus Severus Potter

Neville Longbottom m. Hannah Abbot- Alice Longbottom (I made her up)

Rose Weasley m. Scorpius Malfoy- Hermione Malfoy

Albus Potter m. Alice Longbottom- Evan Potter

/\/\/\/\/\

CENTAURS!

\/\/\/\/\/

"No," Magorian stated in a hard, cold voice.

If Hylonome were anyone else she might have flinched at the underlying anger in his tone, but she was not anyone else and therefore she did not. Instead she lifted her head and she looked the Chief of the herd from the Forbidden Forest in the eyes.

"You argue with the very stars themselves now, Magorian?" She asked curiously.

"I absolutely forbid it," he insisted.

"You cannot forbid the stars to do anything just as you cannot command them to do anything," Hylonome informed him. She frowned at him then. "This is something every foal knows. Why are you pretending to be ignorant?"

"You cannot do this," Magorian snapped.

Hylonome's hoof struck the ground forcefully. "Who are _you_ Magorian to tell me what I may and may not do? I am the Lead Mare of Britain. The stars are there for anyone with eyes to see."

"How can you ask one of our foals to…," Magorian couldn't continue.

"_I_ am not asking any of our foals to do anything," Hylonome countered. "The stars have spoken."

"Grandfather, please." A much younger voice spoke out and a delicate-looking filly picked her way carefully through the underbrush to stand next to Hylonome.

"Andraste," Magorian whispered and his face went pale. He turned to glare at Hylonome. "Must you? Am I meant to lose my only grandchild?"

Hylonome sighed heavily and glared at him. "Magorian you begin to wear upon my nerves. How many times must I tell you that it is the stars and not my personal will?"

"Grandfather," Andraste tried again.

"Do whatever you wish," Magorian growled.

"She will not be lost to us," Hylonome said with an aggrieved sigh. "Firenze is still at Hogwarts. He will keep an eye on her."

"_Firenze_," Magorian snarled. "You entrust my granddaughter's safety to that… that common _mule_?"

Hylonome rolled her eyes at Magorian. "Firenze is one of the greatest Seers we have. _He_ does not ignore the stars because they disagree with him."

"He has borne humans on his back!" Magorian protested.

Hylonome sighed heavily. "He has done that only when the lives of human foals were at risk. Are you telling me you would allow a foal of any species to be killed?"

Magorian glared at her.

"Grandfather, please. Madam Granger has sworn to protect the magical exchange students with teams of Aurors. Harry Potter himself has promised to oversee the protection of all of us. He came to the Lead Mare with Madam Granger. Both of them bowed low before her and gave her every single honour," Andraste begged.

"Auror Potter and Madam Granger observed every ritual and every nicety exactly," the Lead Mare agreed.

"I do not like it," Magorian said at last.

"You do not have to like it," Hylonome retorted. "The stars do not care whether or not we _like_ what they have to say. They ask only that we listen."

/\/\/\

The boats were not exactly made for _kentauroi_, but Andraste made do with a boat all to herself. She was not the only magical being to attend Hogwarts under Madam Granger's new initiative, but she hadn't met any of the others yet. Andraste waited impatiently until her boat touched shore and clambered out carefully so as not to catch up any of her hooves. She heard the whispers and murmurs, but she ignored all of them. She tugged on her modified school robes and sighed.

The wizarding war in which Harry Potter had saved Britain had ended long, long ago when her grandfather Magorian had been a young stallion in the bachelor herd of the Forbidden Forest. Even though it had been fifty years ago there were still prejudiced wizards who had spoken out against the idea of magical beings attending Hogwarts. Madam Granger had had to work long, difficult hours in the Ministry of Magic to make the current initiative happen.

"Firs' years this way," a loud, booming voice called.

An elderly half-giant was directing the students carefully toward the castle. Andraste followed hesitantly carefully picking her way through the crowd and trying not to step on any of the human foals with her hooves. They were gently herded into the Great Hall where the Sorting was to take place. Madam Granger and Auror Potter had explained the process in detail to the Lead Mare and Andraste felt no fear at all when she was called up in her turn.

"Andraste of the Salisbury Plain herd," the professor called out.

She moved forward ignoring the whispers around her. She knew that many of the students were what the wizards called 'Muggleborn' and had probably never seen her kind before. When the hat settled on her head she had a brief moment of panic, but then the hat began muttering to itself. It sounded so much like her great-aunt Penelope that Andraste giggled to herself.

"_Amusing you am I?"_

"You just remind me of great-aunt Penelope," she murmured.

"_Hmm. A clever filly,"_ the hat mused. _"Better put you in… _RAVENCLAW!"

The professor in charge of the Sorting directed her to the blue and yellow tables that housed the Ravenclaw students. Andraste carefully made her way down the stairs and moved to the place they had set for her that had no bench to get in her way.

Across the table were a boy and girl who appeared to be the opposite of one another in every way. The girl had long, sleek, platinum blonde hair that appeared to be almost as long as Andraste's own hair which fell almost to the small of her back. Her silver-grey eyes were watching everything. The boy next to her had wild, black hair that seemed to stick up all over his head in every direction. His wide, emerald-green eyes peered out at her from behind a pair of spectacles and he grinned cheekily at her.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," he whispered across the table at her.

"Thank you," Andraste whispered back. She peeked around the Great Hall as unobtrusively as possible, but she paused in surprise when she caught a glance of the ceiling. Stars winked down at her as though she were at home on the Salisbury Plain. She felt her heart constrict in her chest for just a moment.

"The ceiling's charmed to look like the night sky," the blonde girl murmured to her. "It's in _Hogwarts: A History_."

"Have you read it?" Andraste asked curiously.

"Oh yes," the blonde girl said with a little nod. "I've got my gran's edition. She gave it to me right before my first year."

"Ah," Andraste murmured politely.

Once everyone was Sorted the Headmistress stood and gave a short welcoming speech. Andraste listened carefully and blinked in surprise when the Headmistress said that the forest on Hogwarts grounds was forbidden to students. Then she clapped her hands and the Welcoming Feast began. A huge bowl filled with herbs and edible plants from the Salisbury Plain appeared on the table in front of Andraste. She watched the other students surreptitiously before she filled her plate with salad and raw vegetables. Andraste picked at the salad listlessly for several minutes.

"You appear to be distressed," the blonde girl noted carefully.

"Brilliant eye there, Malfoy," the black-haired boy sniped at her. He turned to look at her. "She's probably got family in the Forbidden Forest. You have, haven't you?"

"Oh stow it, Potter," the Malfoy girl snapped back. Then she turned her silvery gaze onto Andraste. "If there's family you wanted to meet you could probably get dispensation to visit them on Hogsmeade weekends. You're older than third year, aren't you?"

"I believe Hogwarts has classified me as a sixth-year," Andraste replied.

The blonde smiled at her then—a genuine, happy smile. "Oh excellent. We'll be in the same year then. I'm Hermione Malfoy, by the way. Terribly rude of us to not introduce ourselves, but Potter always brings out the worst in me."

"Evan Potter," the black-haired boy offered before taking a giant bite of his steak and kidney pie.

Hermione Malfoy wrinkled her nose at him. "You look like Grandpa Weasley when you do that."

Evan grinned at her. "I know. Gran tells me that all the time."

"Are you two… related?" Andraste asked curiously.

"Unfortunately," Hermione Malfoy muttered with a dark look for the boy next to her. Then she turned her attention back to Andraste. "My maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother were brother and sister, which made my mum and his dad cousins."

"I'm not sure what it makes us exactly, but I've got to see _her _at all of the major holidays," Evan added jerking a thumb at Hermione.

Hermione stuck out her tongue at Evan. Then she seemed to realize where she was and she gave Andraste a weak smile. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's fine," Andraste said automatically. It was comforting to see the sort of family bickering that she was used to in her herd. In fact, the two of them reminded her of her cousins Chiron and Melissa.

/\/\/\

To allow students of various physiological designs, the castle had been forced to adjust itself to meet the needs of its new students. There were magical ramps that Andraste could trot or gallop up or down to get to the right floors. A few of the students had tried to slide down the ramps until they had almost been trampled by a frazzled Andraste who had gotten hopelessly lost and was panicking about being late to her Muggle Studies class. Andraste was surprised to see Hermione Malfoy's long, blonde hair next to the empty space that was supposed to allow Andraste easy access to the table.

"Why are you taking Muggle Studies?" Andraste asked quietly.

"Grandma Weasley is the only relative I have that's actually a Muggleborn," Hermione whispered back. Then she smirked at Andraste. "And it drives my Grandpa Malfoy absolutely bonkers that I'm taking this class."

"I see," Andraste said slowly. She glanced about the room and then leaned toward Hermione. "My grandfather is most displeased that I'm attending Hogwarts with humans."

Hermione nodded. "Gran said that getting the _kentauroi_ involved was one of the hardest parts of enacting the initiative."

"Gran?" Andraste asked curiously.

"Madam Granger," Hermione whispered. She smirked again. "Mum named me after her to remind Grandpa Malfoy where she came from. He still refuses to call me by my given name. In fact, when I was five I thought my name was Princess. Evan still won't let me forget about that."

"So your mother is the daughter of Hermione Granger?" Andraste was trying to follow along, but wizarding bloodlines were confusing to say the least.

"Well, Gran uses Hermione Granger at the Ministry, but it's easier to call her Grandma Weasley," Hermione explained.

"I see," Andraste murmured. She eyed Hermione Malfoy thoughtfully.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. Gran is the one who did everything amazing. Ev and I are just students here like everyone else."

Andraste blinked. "Ev?"

Hermione shrugged. "Evan. He's Great-Uncle Harry's grandson, but please don't mention it. It drives him mad when girls try to flirt with him just because his granddad is famous."

"That would be odd," Andraste said slowly.

Being at Hogwarts was so different and strange compared to life in the herd where a person's worth was judged by their actions and their contributions to the herd as a whole. No one cared that Andraste was the Lead Mare's granddaughter. She had not been sent to Hogwarts because of her status in the herd, but rather because she was judged to be the best foal to fulfil the duty. Andraste couldn't imagine a young stallion trying to woo her based on her lineage… humans were _odd_.

/\/\/\

"Granddad says you're really gifted," Evan announced as he plopped down at the Ravenclaw table for lunch.

Andraste looked up from her mixed green salad in confusion. She hadn't seen Harry Potter at Hogwarts recently, and she would have recognized the wizard who had come with Madam Granger to beg the _kentauroi_ to take part in their initiative. She tried to think back through her day to see if there was anything that she could have done that would be considered 'gifted' by the 'Saviour of Britain'.

"He means his _other_ granddad," Hermione translated when she spotted the befuddled look in Andraste's eyes.

"Oh," Andraste replied still as confused as ever.

"My mum is Professor Longbottom's oldest daughter," Evan explained around a sandwich.

Andraste sighed. "I feel as though I need some sort of chart," she muttered.

Evan laughed. "Tell me about it. _I_ feel that way at most of my family's gatherings."

"Professor Longbottom thinks I'm gifted?" Andraste asked.

Evan nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, he says that the plants just seem to respond to you. He thinks you've got a true talent as an Herbalist."

"An Herbalist?" As a Centaur, Andraste had never considered any profession that would take her out of the herd.

"Granddad is really good at spotting talent," Evan informed her.

"An Herbalist…," Andraste tasted the title once more on her tongue.

"Is that not something you would be allowed to do?" Hermione asked cautiously.

Evan snorted. "_Allowed_ to do?"

Hermione glared at her cousin. "You're fairly lucky, Evan. Your grandparents don't really care what you do—only that you enjoy it. Not everyone has that kind of freedom."

"Are you restricted from doing certain things?" Andraste ventured.

"Not me so much," Hermione countered with a shake of her long, blonde hair. "It's my older brother. Regulus is the Malfoy heir. He's expected to get the right job, make the right friends, and marry the right girl."

"I see," Andraste said slowly and she did. Centaurs were expected to keep to their own kind, to contribute to their herds and to increase those herds. It wasn't all that dissimilar really. She said as much to Hermione and Evan.

Hermione snorted in amusement. "Oh Gran's a clever one," she muttered to herself.

"What?" Evan demanded.

"Don't you see? This initiative is forcing wizards to mingle with other sentient beings. Now when bills come up before the Ministry and some old fart gets up and tries to say that 'everyone knows' this or that about Centaurs or Goblins or what-have-you the wizards who have actually spent time with them—or received letters from their children at school about their new 'friends'—will be able to refute their propaganda," Hermione explained rapidly speaking almost too quickly for Andraste to follow her.

Evan seemed to understand everything because his green eyes widened in surprise before a speculative gleam entered them. "I wonder if Granddad knew what she was planning to do," he murmured to himself.

"I'm sure he did," Hermione retorted. "Great-Uncle Harry is a lot cagier than anyone ever gives him credit for being."

/\/\/\

Restlessly Magorian paced along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He glanced toward the road to Hogsmeade every so often. Soon he saw Andraste's delicate form walking slowly toward him. The reason for her slow pace was readily apparent. Magorian's gaze narrowed on the two human foals walking next to her. The boy seemed to be talking animatedly and was waving his hands about to emphasize his point. The girl was rolling her eyes and laughing with Andraste.

"Don't be ridiculous Evan," the girl snapped. "How on earth would Andraste get up on a broom?"

"But did you see her aim? She's amazing! She would be the best beater of all time," the boy was saying excitedly.

Andraste giggled. "My grandfather says that if our kind were meant to fly Epona would have given us wings."

The girl frowned thoughtfully. "I think your grandfather's right, Andraste. You would look odd with wings stuck to your back."

"You see Magorian," Hylonome murmured from behind him.

He whirled in surprise to see the Lead Mare watching their granddaughter with an expression of fond pride. "See what?" He demanded.

"What is lost is found again," she said with a nod toward Andraste. "This initiative will bring changes even to the herds," she continued.

"It shall be as the stars will," Magorian muttered.

"It shall," Hylonome agreed.

"Grandfather," Andraste called as she at last caught sight of Magorian lurking at the forest's edge. She cantered to him and hugged him tightly.

"You are well?" Magorian asked in a gruff voice.

"Of course," Andraste chided. "Come meet my friends."

As Andraste dragged her grandfather to meet Hermione Malfoy and Evan Potter the Lead Mare looked on and smiled to herself. If this initiative could work such miracles as Magorian of the Forbidden Forest herd being polite and friendly to humans then she had every confidence that Madam Granger could work the miracles she had promised. The future looked very promising indeed and the stars themselves agreed.


End file.
